East-Siberian Sea

Area:

944 601 km2

The greatest depth:

358 m

The East Siberian Sea is a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean, located between the Novosibirsk Islands and the island of Wrangel. The sea is connected to the straits by The Chukchi Sea и The Laptev Sea. The banks are mountainous and indented. The average depth of 66 meters, the largest 358 meters. For most of the year the sea is covered with ice. Salt from 5 ‰ near river mouths to 30 ‰ in the north. The rivers flow into the sea: Indigirka, Alazeya, Kolyma, the Great Chukchi. On the coast of the sea there are several bays: Chaun Bay, Omulyakhskaya Bay, Chromskaya Bay, Kolyma Bay, Kolyma Bay. Large islands: Novosibirsk, Lyakhovsky, De Long Island. In the center of the sea there are no islands.

Bottom relief

The sea lies on the shelf. In the eastern part of the depth reach 40 meters, in the west and central - 20 meters, to the north reach 200 meters (this depth is taken for the isobath - the border of the sea). The maximum depth is 358 meters. The bottom is covered with sandy ooze with boulders and pebbles.

Temperature and salinity

Temperatures of sea water are low, in the north they are both in winter and in summer close to -1,8 ° C. In the south, the temperature rises in the upper layers to 5 ° C. At the edge of the ice fields, the temperature is 1-2 ° C. The maximum water temperature reaches by the end of summer at the mouths of the rivers (up to 7 ° C). Salinity of water is different in the western and eastern parts of the sea. In the eastern part of the sea at the surface, it is usually about 30 per mille. River runoff in the eastern part of the sea leads to a decrease in salinity to 10-15 per mille, and in the estuaries of large rivers to almost zero. Near ice fields salinity increases to 30 per mille. With depth, salinity rises to 32 per mille.

Hydrological regime

Almost the whole year the sea is covered with ice. Floating perennial ice remains in the eastern part of the sea even in summer. From the shore they can be driven north by winds from the mainland. Ice drifts in the north-west direction as a result of water circulation under the influence of anticyclones at the North Pole. After weakening of the anticyclone, the area of ​​the cyclonic cycle increases and the sea receives many years of ice from the polar latitudes.